Prosecutors want to keep trooper's past from jury

His stopping of more women than men isn't relevant to woman's trial, attorney says

By LEE WILLIAMS

During the coming trial of local artist Sally Adams, prosecutors want to withhold from the jury the fact that the trooper who arrested Adams stops more women than men.

According to a motion filed this week by Assistant State Attorney Shannon Hankin, prosecutors want to bar any “implication that Trooper (Melvin) Arthur profiles female drivers, stops a disproportionate number of female drivers, or arrests a disproportionate number of female drivers. Said allegations are not relevant to any fact and have not been supported by any materials provided through discovery.”

Arthur stopped Adams, 52, last May on Tamiami Trail, just south of Hillview Street, because her tag light was out.

Three hours later, Arthur arrested her on a DUI charge. Adams' breath tested for alcohol at 0.036 percent — below the 0.08 level at which Florida drivers are considered intoxicated. Adams also was charged with resisting arrest, a misdemeanor, and escape — a felony punishable by 16 years in prison. Adams says the handcuffs that Arthur placed on her wrists slipped off.

Adams has said she believes she was profiled by the trooper because she is a woman.

Arthur, 24, has a reputation among some defense lawyers for stopping more women than men.

According to information provided to the Herald-Tribune by the Florida Highway Patrol, which consisted of all traffic stops Arthur made in 2012, nearly two-thirds of the drivers he pulled over were women, as were 62 percent of those that Arthur arrested on DUI charges.

Prosecutors dismissed the DUI charges against Adams this week, but she is still scheduled to go to trial Thursday to face resisting and escape charges.

“I am anxious for the jury and the public to hear the truth,” Adams said.

Until she met Arthur, Adams had never been arrested.

Prosecutors also want to withhold from the jury Adams “lack of criminal history.”

Hankin also wants to keep from jurors the fact Adams passed the breath test: “The defendant is not charged with Driving Under the Influence and the BAC results were obtained after the trooper's arrest of the defendant and therefore have no relevance as to whether the trooper had probable cause at the time of the arrest.”

Hankin did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Adams' arrest was videotaped by Arthur's dash camera and those of other troopers. A camera caught one conversation between several officers, during which Arthur recounts his takedown of Adams: “I put her f------ ass in the dirt.”

Hankin is seeking to bar certain conversations recorded between the officers, because “the interaction does not help prove or disprove any material fact and would only be used to cast law enforcement in a bad light.”

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